``In other words, there's plenty of data to choose from for a housing market bull to make his case. But even if these data clearly show an incipient recovery, what exactly is the reason for it? Tim Iacano of Iacano Research believes that most -- if not all -- of the recent rise in home prices is a direct result of efforts by the Federal Reserve to stimulate the economy.
The Federal Reserve has kept short term interest rates at near-zero since 2008. In order to stimulate the economy further, the central bank has engaged in quantitative easing (QE) or the purchase of U.S. treasury bonds and mortgage debt in order to drive down long-term interest rates as well. The most recent round of QE was specifically aimed at mortgage-backed securites (MBS), and was effective at lowering mortgage rates to all-time lows.''